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Oh, I almost forgot to comment on the ministory! I'm actually pretty impressed to see that Caribou's brother is able to handle that commodore (well, he's not a supernova for nothing, I guess). Though I have to wonder if he'll actually be able to win. I mean, there could still be stronger marines who are just below Smoker and Vergo's level at that G5 base.....

...Why not? He's from a marine branch that's situated in the NW, and those guys haven't exactly been portrayed as pencil-pushers, have they?

But again, I wasn't exclusively talking about that commodore, anyway. There could be other marines currently at the base (of higher or lower rank) who could be tougher than that guy (but I'm NOT saying that they'd be admiral-level badasses, either)....

Chapter 684
Not a bad chapter. Smoker and Vergo good fighters. Seeing Vergo dodge a swipe from behind and countering at the same time was pretty cool. Smoker using armor haki with his logia is nice. CC finally reveals the truth behind the incident and his past rivalry with Dr. VegaPunk. The scientist(Vega Punk) that won't cross certain lines and a scientist(CC) who will. Has for the ending nice dragon.

^ What people always forget in these power discussions is one of japanese folks favourite game reference Zangetsu!

Paper, Rock and Scissors... which actually describes real life better too than any orderly list.

Ordinarily I would agree, but in this case not quite. Leaving aside Law's electric attack to which Vergo might have immunity for whatever reasons, Sanji's and Smoker's attacks were essentially brute force attacks with Haki. One doing real damage and the other not is a good comparison.

Speaking of haki, I find it interesting that I haven't seen much talk here about Smoker using CoA against Vergo. I mean, if we don't count Marineford then this would be the first time we've seen a logia using haki in combat since Eneru. Makes me wonder how long it'll be before the Straw-Hats encounter a logia with conqueror's haki....

The embellishment of CC in this chapter further solidifies him as the "final boss", either him or the result of his crazy plans. Donflamingo will most likely not be fighting in this arc; it would be way too early for such a character imho anyways.

Really nice fight sequence between Smoker and Vergo, that left haki punch by Smoker and the moves leading up to it were awesome.

It looks like Zoro, Chopper, Nami and crew were being attacking by some technique from Monet, blizzard maybe?

Both Law's and Sanji's attacks did no notable damage to or at least didn't faze Vergo, but Smoker's punch got him to the ground and he seems to be somewhat injured.

Probably a good wake up call to those that are saying the strawhats are now at emperor/ admiral power level.

Not until I see Luffy and his first mate meet their match will I concede or change my opinion
If Sanji's where captain you probably be right. Personally Sanji facing a Vice Admiral (Aka Pirate Vergo and Possibly Daflamingo's right hand man) is no easy feat and it is a vast improvement for only two years. I am content with were Sanji is at. Second Vice Admiral is a rank below Admiral. Is it that hard to see them fighting with an Admiral? In this arch alone there is two Vice admirals, Shichibukai, and Daflamingo's goons (Daflamingo might even show up making two Shichibukai on the Island). Two years ago one Shichibukai would have made up a whole arch. Who do you think the WG should send if the Straw Hats clean house in this arch? Has for the Emperors, they no longer have the luxury of staying on the side lines with the Straw Hats. Don't forget you still have Big Mamma looking for them, has well has the mystery Yonkou Luffy and Law teamed up to take down. With big title and high ranks that I have named off in this post alone, I personally think this should be a wake up call for those who doubt Straw Hats level of strength are on par with top players.

Yeah, but the Sabaody arc made the level of future enemies crystal clear when the entire Straw-Hat crew struggled to their utmost limits just to take out ONE FODDER PACIFISTA.. I've argued this point with you hundreds of times already, but how could a crew who were just barely able to take out one Kumabot two years ago suddenly be at the level to take on an emperor's entire pirate army by themselves? Yeah, Hody's fish-army from the last arc went down pretty easily but they weren't made up of elite pirates or marines, were they? The Marineford arc alone should have made it clear as to what kind of huge forces are needed to take on the full might of an emperor.....

...And again, this is where the pirate alliances come in. Teaming up with Law should be just the beginning for Luffy. He'll need to make as many powerful allies as he can before he takes on Big Mama and any other pirate emperors (which is why I still feel that his alliance will eventually be integrated with Kid's). Hell, even now I still feel that he'll need Law's help to take down Doflamingo's crew now that he's become their target. You just can't take the New World so lightly.....

Which, of course, begs the question of just what power-ups Oda will have to come up with in the future (I still say Luffy will eventually be able to stretch through time ). Some are obvious (Usopp, Chopper and others adding the variations of Haki to their preexisting abilities), but it is unclear where Luffy will go from here. Still, the Gears were a pleasant and fun surprise built with in-world logic, so I do not doubt Oda's ability to expand his characters powers in a believable manner (Nightmare Luffy aside).

^I dunno about Luffy, but I still feel that Blackbeard will eventually gain some time-based power (if he hasn't already).

But as far as Luffy's power-ups go, I personally like the idea of him being able to use haki in ways similar to the ripple/hamon from the early Jojo sagas (which more people should be able to check out soon thanks to the new anime), or the spin from SBR. I know Luffy sucks with weapons though, so I was thinking that maybe he would be able to use the ordinary objects or even the environment to his advantage somehow during fights (I'm thinking of stuff like how Will Zeppeli did crazy stuff like spitting out wine in the form of blades in Phantom Blood).....